


Define Your Destination

by olivirawr



Category: Doctor Who, Sherlock (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-22
Updated: 2013-06-15
Packaged: 2017-12-12 14:17:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,587
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/812520
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/olivirawr/pseuds/olivirawr
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Molly Hooper is an ordinary girl. Simple. That's what she liked to call it, but her world begins to get wibbly-wobbly when she stumbles upon a crash-landed space man who calls himself the Doctor.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

##  [Define Your Destination: Chapter One](http://olivirawr.tumblr.com/post/50880125830/define-your-destination-chapter-one)

Molly sighed as she handed Sherlock his papers. “Victim #4. Let’s go,” he said, turning to his partner. “Sherlock, I was wondering, maybe once you finished this case…” Molly began, following him out the large double doors. She had an extra ticket to the ballet in town this week. And by had, she purposefully bought so the two could see it together.  
“No time, John and I are far too busy.” he interrupted, his brisk pace hard to keep up with.  
Rejected. Again. Countless times he had pushed her aside, and on many an occasion, had simply been flat out rude.  
“We’ll be seeing you, Molly. Thanks for all your help,” said his companion, John, who was practically running after Sherlock. He gave her an apologetic look for Sherlock’s behavior.  
“It’s okay, I knew he wouldn’t want to,” she said, looking away from the stocky man. The heavy metal doors swung shut as the pair exited the hospital, leaving Molly alone in the florescent lights.  
  
Molly Hooper was an ordinary girl. Simple. That’s what she liked to call it, but she was only masking the truth. It was more like stuck; trapped in a rut so old and deep that it was eroding bit by bit with each step she took. Her schedule was the same each day, putting in long hours at the hospital where she worked, preparing the bodies of murder victims for police work. Sometimes she stayed afterhours, tinkering with the microscopes and cleaning equipment for lack of better entertainment elsewhere.  
She longed for the day when she would become something better.  
Simple just wasn’t satisfying.  
Perhaps if she became better, she wouldn’t always be brushed off like a pest. Maybe she’d be noticed.  
  
Molly hung up her white surgeon’s overcoat to the peg, swapping it for her black pea coat and doing up the buttons as she stepped into the downpour outside.  
That was the night she met him. The man who would change her life.  
She wasn’t far from home, just another three blocks until she reached the apartment complex where she lived when a man stopped her outside of a Holiday Inn.  
“Excuse me, love, do you have the time?” he asked. He was at least a foot taller than Molly, wearing brown slacks and a tweed jacket, and around his neck; a bowtie of all things. His clothes were dirty and his face was smudged with grease. His reddish-brown hair dripped from the rain, falling into his hazel eyes.  
“It’s um, a bit after one a.m.” she replied.  
“And the year?”  
“2012?”  
The strange man smiled. “Thank you!” he blurted out, before running back behind the hotel. Molly stared after him, using her arms to shield her face from the rain. She smelled a faint trace of firewood, and a small trail of smoke appeared to be billowing up from behind the Inn, where the man had headed. Perhaps he was having troubles with his car?  
She hesitantly took a step forward. Then another. Before she knew it, and certainly against her wishes, her feet had carried her to see the man again.  
Molly was greeted with… A small blue Police box. The trail of smoke wafted lazily up from the back end, while the man tinkered with some wires sprouting from a hatch near the door.  
“Um…. Do you need any help?” she asked.  
The man turned and smiled, dropping a wrench at his feet. “You’ve stumbled upon a very strange man with a large blue police box, and your first question isn’t “What is _that_!?” or “Who are you!?” Sweetheart, I’m very much impressed.”  
He wiped his brow with the back of his wrist, smearing the grease across his forehead. “I’m The Doctor. Part-time time traveler, part-time intergalactic savior. I’m a Time Lord. From the planet Gallifrey.” He extended a blackened hand. “Pleased to meet you,”  
Molly looked at it for a second, then shrugged and took it. Years of working in the morgue had taught her not to be squeamish.  
“Likewise. I’m Molly. Molly Hooper.” She said. “You’re a time traveler? What are you doing here?”  
“Ah!” he exclaimed, dropping her hand and picking up his tools from the ground. “Well, there was some trouble with the engine, so it sort of… tossed me right here. One minute, I was in deep space, the next on Earth.” He knelt back down to fiddle with the wires some more. “So once I fix the darned thing… I’ll be off.”  
She watched as the man carefully selected a rod-looking tool, and with a flick of his wrist the top part extended out into claws. As he pointed it towards the wires, it emitted a high pitched whirring sound. The light on it flashed green, and went out as the noise died down.  
“There,” The Doctor slid the hatch closed and the lights from inside the box flickered to life.  
He climbed up the four steps into the machine. “Thank you dearly for your time.” He said with a wink. He turned to close the door behind him.  
“Your time machine… Does it really work?” Molly asked, taking a step towards him.  
The lanky man stopped with the door half open, and turned on his heels to face her.  
“Would you like to find out?” he smiled, holding a hand out towards her from the box’s threshold.  
Molly hesitated a moment. But what did she have to lose? Certainly nothing of much importance.  
  
“I’d love to,”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The second installment, in which Molly goes for a trip in the Tardis with the Doctor.

"I can take you anywhere, to do anything!" The Doctor exclaimed as he ran through the room, flipping switches and buttons and pulling levers of all sorts. Molly gasped as she reached the last of the stairs. She grasped the railing as she took in the sight of his machine.  
The room itself was round, with an island console in the middle containing a brilliant bright blue light. Beneath her feet, a labyrinth of light and wires cascaded down from the console and curled under the clear floor, spreading out like the roots of a tree. Parts were strewn about everywhere, half of which Molly assumed did not work or had no purpose. Some looked tampered with, he was clearly an inventor or engineer of some sort. But above all, the condition of the room made Molly certain of one thing; this man had been alone for a very, very, long time.  
“Your box, it’s not possible!” She said, clutching the rail tightly.  
“Ah, yes, well. You see, I’m a Time Lord. We practically invented time travel. Well, actually, we did. Wonderful people, Time Lords. They were like magicians. True geniuses. And they bent the rules of reality because they wanted to see and learn about everything in the universe. My Tardis is bigger on the inside, because the inside exists within another dimension. When we step inside these doors, we step into another reality. It’s like a portal to another world.”  
Molly nodded slowly, trying to grasp what he said as he spoke.  
Another thing she was positively certain of; this man was immensely intelligent. He had seen things she would never even dream of, possibly been everywhere on earth- and then some. And yet, he still hungered for adventure. The lights of the ship-no, the Tardis- sparkled in his eyes, giving him an air of childlike curiosity.  
"Everything that ever was or ever will be is right outside that door.” He heaved one more lever into the down position, and ran back over to Molly, clasping his hands together excitedly. “So tell me, Miss Molly Hooper, what do you want to see?"

Molly bit her lip, unsure of what to say. She tried desperately to remember all the places she'd dreamed of seeing one day, the thoughts feeling from her grasp like startled gazelle. She wracked the insides of her mind for an answer to that impossible question. "I... Show me..." Molly's voice faltered and she shut her eyes tight, trying to think.  
"Show me... something beautiful."  
The Doctor grinned at her from across the controls. "Something beautiful, coming right up." he said, twisting a dial and slamming his hand down on a button. As small tremor shook the box, Molly lurched forward to steady herself on the panels. As soon as the quake began, it ended.  
"We're here!"  
"Already?"  
He nodded, giving her a smile.  
"Take a peek." The Doctor said as he brushed past her to open the door. Molly stepped out into the flame-colored light, onto rocky obsidian soil. In front of her, a planet burned hot, throwing plumes of lava and flames in huge arcs that looked like meteors blazing across its horizon. They stood on an asteroid, what appeared to be a belt of them, all in orbit around the burning planet. Molly looked around, mouth agape at her surroundings. She reached behind her, touching the arm of the lanky man, reassuring her of his presence. 

He stepped forward and stood beside her, looking out at the view.  
"Acerus 501. Dwarf star. Approximately two billion light years away from Earth. Beautiful enough, I hope. There are certainly many more beautiful places, if this doesn't tickle your fancies."  
Molly swallowed hard, and took in a shaky breath. She turned to face him, still holding onto the sleeve of his jacket.  
"Is all this... Real?" she asked quietly.  
"Real?" The light of the flames danced in his eyes as a grin spread across his face.  
"Of course it's real! Just look at this!" he said, bending down and scooping handfuls of the shining soil. He held it towards Molly.  
"Come on then." he said, gesturing to her hands. Molly cupped hers together, and he dropped the soil in her grasp. A large pile sat in her palms, at first overflowing and spilling to the ground.  
"Just look at that! Do you think that's any less real then you or me?" The Doctor threw his head back, his arms spread wide and spun in a circle.  
"Feel Acerus' heat!"  
Molly closed her eyes a minute, letting the distant eruptions’ warmth kiss her skin. There were so many different things out here. So many new things that humanity is still so far from discovering. New plants and animals and cultures, all surely out there somewhere. Perhaps Molly could make a few discoveries of her own.  
"Um, Doctor?" she asked, watching him drop him arms and face her once more.  
"Would it be okay to take a sample of this back to the lab at home?" she asked, holding up the dirt.  
"Humans! Ever the curious bunch. Of course, of course!" he said, throwing his hands in the air, and jumping back in the box. The Doctor bounded up the stairs and around the corner, returning moments later with large test tubes in his hands. He held them up as she filled them.  
"What else would you like, then? Onyxhag venom? Werewolf fur? A talon from a great gilded Galaunch?" Molly giggled.  
He ushered her back through the doors with the full test tubes, then followed her inside.  
"Really, we could get you gas from a star, or juice from a Pingalo is quite fun to look at, it changes colors based on your mood..."


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Sherlock finds himself wondering who the Doctor really is, and takes action. Based loosely on the Christmas scene from Scandal in Belgravia.

“That man you left with yesterday. I’ve never seen him before,”  
“Believe it or not, Sherlock, I do have a life outside the morgue.”  
“No you don’t.”  
Molly swallowed hard and took a small step back.  
“He’s not from here, is he?” Sherlock continued.  
“In a sense…”  
“His dress tells me that he’s traveled a lot. Although, I don’t see where-“  
As the clock ticked 10, the corner of Molly’s mouth twitched into a smile. She hurried to the door and slid her coat over her white lab coat.  
“And that’s the end of my shift. Goodnight boys, I’ll surely see you tomorrow,” she said, picking up her bag and quickly shutting the door behind her.  
“Goodnight, Molly.” John smiled and waved from his seat at a microscope.

Sherlock scampered to the window, holding his hands up to the glass to shield from his own reflection. Through the rain, he watched Molly exit the hospital, only to be joined by the man, who offered her his elbow. Sherlock looked away as she gladly accepted, and the two walked arm in arm down the quiet road. Molly had been disappearing every other night right at the second her shift got out. Which was unusual for her, as she often stayed after hours. Obviously because she had nothing better to do, but these late night trips suggested something had changed with Molly.  
“Who is that …?” Sherlock asked quietly to himself as he walked towards the table.  
Perhaps for the first time in his life, Sherlock was at a complete and utter standstill. No leads, not even one. The man she was with… Nothing from inside the doors of the maze of twisting passageways that was his mind palace registered as a clue as to who the man was. A tinkerer, sure. No, it was all beginning to flow now. He was covered from ears to ankles in grease and dirt almost constantly. The cuffs of his jacket were often singed, which most certainly lead to his lack of prominent eyebrows. A mechanic. But on what?  
John glanced at him from his gaze at the microscope. His eyebrows flew into his hairline as his sat back. “Don’t you dare tell me you’re jealous of him, Sherlock?”  
The tall man turned his back at that word. Jealous? He did not develop attachments. Especially not those that required you to feel, how could you feel for anyone when everyone’s just so stupid?  
“She asked you to go to the ballet and you turned her down, when you weren’t even busy. She’s been smitten with you for years and you know it. I know you don’t do “sentimental attachments”, but that does not mean you have to be so cruel to Molly. Damned if I knew what she ever saw in you.”  
Sherlock stood a moment, rolling his eyes and waiting impatiently for John to finish his thoughts. It would be better to let the man vent now, rather than get an earful later. He listened for the sounds that signaled the straightening of his chair, the stout man settled back at the microscope. Sherlock grabbed his scarf and coat from the peg, and ran out the door. 

Out on the street, he traced the steps of where he’d last seen the pair and, yes, of course, there. They rounded a corner just a few blocks ahead of where he stood. He broke into a sprint, pounding across three crossroads, barely hearing the cars honking and brakes skidding on the wet pavement behind him. He reached the corner and turned it fast, seeing nothing but a faint shimmer of fog dancing in a fading light, and a distant wheezing sound which diminished into the roaring of cars on the street behind him. 

**********************************************************************************************************************************************

"Who's this for, your boyfriend?" Sherlock asked, gesturing to the gift on top.  
"Boyfriend?" Molly’s cheeks flushed crimson.  
"Yes, you're obviously seeing him tonight. Your dress alone tells me that. But the fact that your lipstick matches the wrapping paper shade for shade tells me you have a special night planned for him."  
Molly stood a moment, unsure of what to say or think, or if she should even breathe. She stared up at him, eyes burning with fury. He stared back, almost challenging her to prove him wrong.  
"Why do you always say the most hateful things?" she asked quietly. Then, not waiting for an answer, she shoved the red wrapped gift at his chest. Grabbing her coat, she stormed out the door and slammed it shut behind her.  
Sherlock stared at the door for a moment after she left. He looked down at the carefully wrapped gift in his hands, pulling aside the elaborate gold ribbon to reveal a small tag attached to the side.

 

_Merry Christmas, Sherlock.  
Love, Molly._

 

Molly quietly stepped inside the box, pulling the door shut behind her. Leaving her heels at the bottom, she climbed the four steps to the control pavilion where The Doctor reclined against the console. He sat up and whistled as she stepped in. "My, look at you! Breathtaking, you are."  
"Yeah, it's Christmas," she said softly, laying a hand on the cool metal controls.  
"Christmas! That one is my favorite! There's so much spirit, so much great food, my aunt used to make us roasted dwarf magnuts. Best in the galaxy! There's so much togetherness. Plus, everything just looks stunning!" standing, he began punching buttons and pulling levers. "Have you seen the way the lights dance on the snow? Marvelous! That reminds me, you should be able to see the Aurora... Boreal..."  
Molly looked up to see him staring at her, his hands still poised on the dials. "Is everything alright?" he asked, looking very worried.  
She looked away, taking her hand from the panels that steadied her trembling hands. "I don't count," she murmured.  
"No, Molly..." The Doctor walked around the controls to come up to her side.  
"You most certainly do."  
“I’m nothing special, he doesn’t even notice me. No one does.”  
“No, no, Molly,” The Doctor said, taking her in his arms and holding her tight.  
Molly buried her face into the faded fawn colored jacket, gladly letting him support her shaking body.  
“You do count,” he said softly into her hair.  
“You do, you were made for something. The universe has waited. Waited for such a long time, all for you. Over millions and billions of years the atoms in your body were used and used again, cycled so many times until finally the conditions were perfect, and the universe created you. A million billion times this planet has rocketed around the sun, every time waiting for the day when you would walk on its’ surface. Everything you see matters. It’s here for a reason. Because everyone has a place, has a job to do. You, Miss Molly Hooper, do matter.”  
The Doctor held her face in his hands and stared reassuringly into her brown eyes. Molly pressed closer into his touch, the corners of her mouth turning up slightly as he wiped away the wetness on her cheeks with his thumbs. “There we are,” he murmured, placing a kiss on her forehead. 

“You do count.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The fourth installment, in which Molly embark on one more adventure. Based on the Doctor who episode, "The Rings of Akhaten,".

“Welcome to the colony of Xion Go, home to the best market on this side of the Khilek moon.”  
It was extraordinary; rows upon rows of vendors sold everything from eggs and exotic fruits to armor, furniture and various modes of transportation. The people themselves… weren’t people at all. All kinds of aliens gathered here, bartering and trading like they do on Earth. Molly had never seen Star Wars, but this is what it probably looked like. Some looked familiar. Human, even. Some were very animal, and some very, very alien.   
A young girl brushed past them, tears welling in her eyes.  
“Oh, dear,” The Doctor said, looking after her.  
“Um, perhaps she’s gotten lost?” Molly suggested.  
“Yes, I suppose we should check in, shouldn’t we?”  
They followed her around a corner, only to see her trapped by to large lizard like creatures. Each taking an arm, they led her away through the bustling crowd, the little girl struggling to get free. “Hey!” The Doctor called, trying to grab their attention. “Wait!” Grabbing Molly’s hand, he led her though the crowd to follow the abductors.  
After dodging through the throngs of… people (Molly supposed it was just right to call them “people” until further notice), They rounded a corner where the lizard-creature’s tails were disappearing, climbing aboard a jet-like ship, with stubby wings and a large undercarriage for storage. It didn’t seem to have fared the atmospheres of the planet very well, for the hull looked dark; almost singed. Above all, it appeared to be patched up in many spots, with different metals from what were probably other ships. With scratches and dents and chipped paints, it didn’t look in any condition to move. The girl called for help but was quickly muffled as she was dragged into the dim light aboard the ship.  
“Well Molly Hooper, I hope you are in the mood for an adventure. Because that’s what is heading our way.” He said, bounding into the ship after the monsters.  
Molly, having learned from her previous adventures, did not hesitate to sprint after him up the stairs and into the belly of the beast. She ran after him into the dim storage unit, where the creatures put the young girl into a cage, and covered it with a heavy purple blanket. The lizard men walked away, mumbling garbled words to one another that Molly could not quite make out. The pair ducked behind a pile of crates as the beasts turned around.   
“What are they?” Molly whispered, standing on her toes to get a better look over The Doctor’s shoulder. They were large, bipedal, basilisk-like creatures, who walked more like apes instead of humans. But their hands never touched the ground, so perhaps they didn’t walk like apes at all. They stood about six inches taller than the Doctor, who, when compared to Molly, might as well have been a giant. The skin colors ranged from deep royal purple, to lime greens and tans to dark leathers. The clothing seemed to be bits and pieces of other clothes sewn and pieced together. They wore armor of thick leather. One carried a small round shield, while the other wore a dull metal helmet and held a staff about as tall as Molly.  
“Onyxhags.” The Doctor replied, his voice low.  
“Nasty creatures. They can spit acid ten feet away, and do it faster than a snake’s strike. Although it’s normally a last resort, it’s highly flammable and could melt through the hull of their ship.” He peered at the piles of junk around them. Cages contained animals; crates and bags were filled, and often spilling over with all kinds of goods.   
“These ones appear to be sky pirates. They’ll sell, steal or kill anything for the right price. Anything, you name it.”  
“Awwww,” a voice hissed behind them, causing the pair to jump. Molly whirled to face what was certainly going to be an enemy. “A wee bit dangerous do we sound to you?” it smiled, baring sharp teeth. “Just wait ‘till yeh meet de Captain!” the beast took them each by an arm, leading them up the stairs and through a twisting passageway of rounded corridors before arriving at what Molly presumed to be the Captain’s Quarters. There was quite a bit of space in here, despite the small appearance of the ship. The beast shoved the pair through the door, then stepped in and locked it behind them.  
“What have you brought me this time?” a voice growled from the far end.  
“These two were trespassin’, sir. Found them in the hold.”  
The stateroom was only about as big as the living room in Molly’s apartment, but it looked just like the storage unit. All around them sat piles of various objects, although they must have been the most useful and treasured to end up in the Captain’s possession.  
“Is this your ship? Bit of a junker, eh?" The Doctor asked. The Captain turned around, and ambled closer to them, his heavy footsteps making an audible thump on the ground from his bare, clawed feet. His scales were a dark purple, with a few forest green patches spread across his brow and cheeks. His green eyes flashed from the Doctor to Molly and back again.  
“It was a huge bargain. A steal, you might say.” The Captain grinned, showing yellow reptilian teeth.   
"Oi, it’s you again! Thought I'd be rid of you the last time we met." the Doctor said.   
"And who are yah? I don’t think I know you, boy.”   
“Why don’t you take a closer look," the Doctor insinuated. The Captain bent down until he was practically nose to nose with the doctor, eyes narrowed into slits. His eyes were aged, almost glassy emerald green that blended into lime closer to his pupils. The pupils themselves were vertical like his cold-blooded cousins’. From this distance Molly could see the wrinkles set in his face, the way the scaled skin overlapped itself as it came loose with age. The Doctor raised an eyebrow quizzically and half-smiled like a guilty child, albeit one who had a secret to keep.

What was it that would be reflected back in the Captain’s eyes? Molly wondered, how did everyone else see the doctor? She only truly knew him as a friend. As a hero. And she supposed that on many more occasions, he had been both and much more to hundreds of different people. So what would the Captain see? A criminal? A solider? Perhaps just a hell raiser in a bowtie.  
Of one more thing Molly was positively certain; this man had worn many masks, many faces. Perhaps some were frightening and unfamiliar. Perhaps others saw daily use. But he had lived a hundred lives and would live a hundred more, putting on a new mask -a new face- everywhere he went.  
A glimmer of recognition shone in the Captain's eyes. "Yes, I see it now. A new face you've taken, but I see you are the same man who crashed my ship last time!"   
" Yes, well." The Doctor clapped his hands together. "We can't have you hoarding the last of the Jangeaut species, can we? They are protected by intergalactic law, and you should be glad it was me who found you and not anyone else. Now, what do you want with her? She’s done no harm to you or your rubbish ship.”  
“That girl is the sole heir to the throne of Ahmettuun." the Captain growled, pointing at her over his shoulder with his thumb. "Do you have any idea how much her kingdom will be willing to pay for her return? We’re simply escorting her back home… but certainly not without reward for finding the dahhhrrrling lost princess. I’ll be the richest man in the galaxy!” he laughed, throwing his head back and scaled arms out. His voice rumbled in his throat with husky laughter.  
“Give her back!” Molly screeched, jolting forward only to be pulled back by the guard.  
“And why,” The Onyxhag started, pushing his face so close to Molly's, she could feel his hot breath.   
“In the name of Igunine would I do that?”  
Molly stood her ground, thrusting her chin forward and standing as tall as she could. No longer would she be a pushover. No longer would she allow herself to be intimidated by insolent hounds like him.  
“Because she counts!”  
And in that moment, Molly Hooper was no longer just an ordinary girl, with a simple life and a small house, stuck in a rut so deep it had eroded into a canyon. She would be more. This time, she would be great. Extraordinary. 

“Take them away” The Captain growled.   
The guards began to step away, ever so slightly releasing their grasp from the Doctor’s arms. In a flash, he ripped the shield from the guard’s forearm, using it to shove him to the ground. Molly stamped on her guard’s feet, causing him to release his hold. She pried the staff from his hands, and swung it at his head. The sound of the two metal pieces colliding crashed like a gong. Leaping over the two fallen guards, the pair sprinted out of the stateroom and down the corridor.  
Upon reaching the storeroom, the Doctor rushed over to the cage which held the girl. She was about half of Molly’s height, with braided blonde hair that went all the way down her waist. She wore ruby colored robes, trimmed in gold. Across her cheekbones were purple tattoos, a small series out six dots on each side that turned up to her temples.   
“She needs help!”  
“Yes, yes, working on it!” he said, fumbling with his screwdriver. Finally getting it to the right setting, he pointed it at the lock. With the now familiar whirring noise, the lock broke almost instantly. Molly ripped it off and crawled inside, checking for any signs of life. She bent down to take her pulse, and after a few moments she saw the girl’s chest rise and fall.   
The Doctor examined her with the screwdriver, holding it up to look at it in a better light.   
“Yes, she’ll be fine. It seems as though they’ve given her some sort of sedative to keep her quiet. Non-toxic. She’ll be just fine once she wakes up.”   
Molly nodded in agreement, propping the girl up. The Doctor reached in the cage, taking the girl in his arms. He hoisted her onto his back and turned towards the doorway. Molly did the same, only to see it blocked by one of the crew. It pointed at them, letting out a garbled “Hey!”  
“Oh dear.” The Doctor said quietly.  
“Maybe they’ll follow us back up the stairs?” Molly pressed eagerly.  
The Doctor looked back, biting his lip. “It’s worth a shot. Just once around the corridor, okay? Let’s go.”   
The two bounded up the steps, Molly trying to ignore the heavy footsteps pounding the floor behind her. She turned on her heels, catching a glimpse of the two guards gaining on them.  
"Doctor-!" She hit the ground with a loud thump, sprawling on her back. She gasped as the air was knocked from her lungs, trying desperately to inhale what was no longer there. The Doctor took a step closer, a fearful expression on his face. "Take her," Molly coughed out, sweeping towards the exit with one arm. The pain spread across her back like a wildfire catching dried hay, blooming across her spine and shoulder blades where the impact was strongest. Molly picked her head up and was greeted by the grinning face of the Captain, and presumably, his tail she had tripped over.   
The Doctor hesitated, at first bounding back towards her, then took notice of the guards that jumped over Molly's collapsed figure. "Molly Hooper, I will come back for you, cross my hearts!" he yelled, sounding terribly angry, but more than that. He was very, very frightened. He adjusted the unconscious girl on his back, and took off down the corridor, followed by the two beasts.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The final installation, picking up exactly where the last left off. Thank you so much for reading! This was a project for my LA10H literature class; I got an A! Special thanks to my dear Molly Bird. Love, I never would have finished without you.

Molly propped herself onto one elbow, drawing in quick, shallow breaths. The Captain knelt down to her level and drew a scimitar from his belt. "The two of you have made a dear mistake, coming aboard my ship and stealin' me cargo." he growled, his voice gritting like sandpaper in Molly's ears. The Captain seized Molly's hair in one hand, holding her head back and exposing her neck to the cold bite of the scimitar's blade. He pressed it against her throat, cutting off the supply of oxygen that she was only just beginning to recover. Molly's heart hammered in her chest, threatening to burst from her ribcage.  
The Doctor once mentioned the "others". Molly wondered if this is how they went. Perhaps they had seen the certain dangers that came to traveling with him, and had gotten out of it before it was too late. Or perhaps their time expired at the hands of another, as it appeared to Molly that this certainly would be how she would go. Molly, however, did not regret a single minute of her travels. With the Doctor, bit by bit she had begun to claw her way out of the canyon she had so long ago fallen into. He flooded it with the joys of his adventures, helping her float back to the top. With him, she felt like a mountaineer, one who had finally reached the summit. And even though the winds roar her ears and the gales nip at her nose and cheeks, threatening to send her tumbling headfirst down the steep ledges, she felt invincible.  
“I suppose it’s time for the Doctor to make one final payment for the damages that he's caused me.” the Captain said, thrusting the knife so that it dug into Molly's skin. Not yet a cut, but with a small flick of his wrist there would certainly be a mess to clean up. She looked into his eyes, catching a menacing glint that looked as if he enjoyed watching her struggle beneath his blade. A look that told her he had done this before.  
"He took everything away from me. This time, I will take it from hi-AAGHH," the Captain stood, clutching his hand that held the scimitar only a moment before. It clattered to the floor, along with Molly who coughed and gasped for air. She looked up to see the Doctor pointing his screwdriver towards the basilisk, the green light flashing and emitting a high pitched whirring sound.   
"Step away and don't you lay another claw on her!" he spat, quickly stepping forward. The beast backed up against the dirt-smeared wall, though he made no effort to appear in a state of surrender. As the Doctor got near, Molly reached up towards him. Giving one last threatening glance at the Captain, he knelt and helped her into a sitting position.  
"Oh, Molly..." he whispered, taking in the sight of her. Molly could only assume what she looked like; wild-eyed with her blonde cascade of hair tangled into a rat's nest. Her breath came easier now, although still a bit raspy. She looked into his eyes, watching them glaze over with pain as he traced the stinging red mark on her throat with fingers light as down feathers.   
"I never meant for this to happen," he said, swallowing hard. "That was far too close for comfort." he buried his face in her hair, which felt awfully good. She glanced behind him, at the Captain who was holding the scimitar up over his- Molly's eyes widened, and she tensed as a gasp filled her lungs. "Doctor!" she screeched as the Captain brought the scimitar down fast. He shoved her to the floor, and held his hands in front of his face to shield from the blow. He cried out as the blade tore open both palms. Molly scrambled to her feet.   
"No, n-no, just wait a second," he said with a wince. The Doctor folded his arms, hugging his hands to his sides. "Stay behind me, Molly." he said, and she quickly followed suit.  
"Do you know what happens," he started, looking up at the Captain. "When you injure a Time Lord?"   
The Captain bared his teeth in a smirk.   
"Care to enlighten me?" he asked, pointing the blade at the Doctor's heart-err, hearts.  
The Doctor held his arms up, his now bloody hands pointed straight at the Captain and dripping on the dirty floor. "A great big blast of regeneration energy!" he smiled as his hands begun to glow gold. "Geronimo." he said, glancing back at Molly. Suddenly, there was a burst of golden light that exploded in all directions. In an instant the Captain was blown away in the gold dust and hot air, along with the walls directly surrounding them. The remaining rubble caught fire and begun to burn, spreading to the goods located within the storeroom behind the wall.   
The Doctor turned back to Molly, throwing his arms around her in a victory embrace, then tugged in her hand, leading her down what remained of the small corridor. "Doctor," said Molly. He looked at her, but did not slow his brisk pace. "What about your hands...?" she asked, glancing down at his huge hand entwined with her own. "Regeneration energy!" he beamed, waving at her with his free hand. Not even a blemish remained, his skin was flawless. "I will fix you too, once we get off of this rubbish ship."   
The pair came to the end of the corridor. By now the air within the ship was growing hazy as the compartment filled with smoke. Molly held her sleeve over her nose and mouth, trying to protect herself from the smoke as she followed the Doctor down the stairs and out.   
Molly, relieved to be able to breathe again, ran ahead into the clearing.   
"I parked the Tardis a bit closer. The princess is inside, she should be waking up any minute now." he said, walking to the large blue doors.  
"And the Captain?"  
"Most likely maimed by the blast. A good thing, although rather unfortunate. However that ship is not going to fly again, there’s far too much fire damage by now." he held open the door and nodded her inside.   
“Alright, your majesty.” he said with a bow to the stirring child, who rubbed her eyes and yawned. “What do you say we get you home?”

*****************************************************************************************************************************************************

"Here we are, back in London. Safe and sound." said the Doctor, walking around the console towards her, his face sullen.   
"I am truly sorry, Molly. I allowed you to be captured, to be hurt, and I will never forgive myself for that." She watched as he turned away, leaning against the controls. “I’ve lost people before. Simply because I couldn’t protect them. Because I was stupid enough to leave them behind. I left you today, and that is a mistake I never should have made. You got hurt because of me.”   
Molly stared up into his hazel eyes, smiling at the way his hair flopped into them, and then seeing worry and anger cloud them over. She stepped forward and wrapped her arms around his torso, holding him tight and burying her face into his neck. She felt him kiss her hair, then wrap his arms around her middle.   
"It's alright. You know why? Because you've taught me that that's how life is. You get hurt, you get pushed over. And you simply need to hold out your chin, and fix your bowtie, and you get back up." she sighed into his embrace, feeling her cheeks grow warm. "You've made me better, and I can't thank you enough." she pulled away, and he took her hand in both of his.   
His hands shone a golden color, which snaked its way up her arm and coated her skin in its heated grasp. Only when it reached her shoulders did she realize she was gritting her teeth against the throbbing bruises down her back. Molly stood up straighter as she felt the aches being reduced to oblivion. The last to go was the scrape on her neck, which faded with little persistence.   
"You're all healed now." he said quietly. She rubbed her hands across her throat, admiring his handiwork.   
“It was fantastic. All of it. Don’t worry, okay?” she said, cocking her head slightly.  
“Thank you for the travels, we're going to miss you, won't we, dear?" he asked, nodding to the center console.   
“Thank you so much. For everything." she giggled, giving him one last squeeze. Untangling herself from his grasp, she made her way to the door.   
“Goodbye, Doctor. She said, beaming at him as she passed.  
“Goodbye, Molly Hooper." he said with a half-smile, straightening his bowtie and then reaching out to smooth her hair.   
He held open the door, and Molly stepped into the cool overcast afternoon. She took in a deep breath of the moist air, letting the scent of spring bathe over her tongue before letting out a soft "Geronimo,”.


End file.
